Major tobacco firms including Japan Tobacco International and British American Tobacco have signaled their intention to appeal a decision by the UK High Court to deem plain packaging legislation 'suitable and appropriate'.
Mr Justice Green rejected a judicial review challenge brought by several tobacco companies in respect of 'The Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations 2015', which are due to come into effect in the UK on Friday.
In his decision, Mr Justice Green stated: "At base it involves a substantial limitation being imposed upon the ability of manufacturers to advertise or place branding upon the outer packaging or the tobacco product itself. The Regulations do not however involve all tobacco products being sold in a homogeneous, undifferentiated manner.
"The manufacturers can still place the brand name and variant name upon the box and in this way they can still communicate their identities to consumers and differentiate themselves from their competitors. But the manner in which the name and brand may be used is highly regulated in order, in effect, to strip away as much of the attractiveness of the branding or advertising as possible." [Source: http://ow.ly/17ka300n2YZ]
Bonnie Herzog, analyst with Wells Fargo, commented on the move, saying: "While it’s still a bit early to gauge the ultimate impact on underlying consumption, we continue to believe the enforcement of plain packaging could pose a long-term risk to the industry, possibly leading to an inadvertent increase in illicit trade activity and consumer downtrading to non-premium brands accelerates."
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
